Last week Jacques Villeneuve travelled to the Kentucky Speedway, a 1.5 mile tri-oval circuit, to test
a Bill Davis Racing prepared Toyota Camry `Car of Tomorrow' (CoT) for the first time. The former F1
World Champion ended the day well ahead of expectation, having completed 162 laps in physically
challenging circumstances, as his NASCAR development program continues to progress to plan.
Villeneuve now moves on to the Talladega Superspeedway, near Birmingham in Alabama, where he
will spend today and tomorrow lapping the famous 2.66 mile high-speed tri-oval.

Heading into last week's test, Villeneuve's crew chief, Richard `Slugger' Labbe had expected that it
would take the entire morning for his driver to acclimatise to the car, but he was again surprised
when the 36-year-old Canadian took just three laps to do so. Taking full use of the opportunity to
move onto the car refinement process more quickly than expected, both driver and team were able to
maximise the available track time.

With the temperature inside the cockpit nudging 180F/82C, Villeneuve found the conditions
challenging, but it was the stability of the car itself that brought the biggest challenge. Commenting
from the Bill Davis Racing HQ in North Carolina, the former Indy 500 champion remarked, "The car
feels very different to the truck that I tested before. Downforce levels are much lower (than with the
truck) and there are fewer options that we can change with the car, but the future is all about the
CoT, so it is just a question of getting used to the feeling."

Labbe, a NASCAR veteran commented, "Jacques has again delivered more than we expected, on and
off the track. He has real car control, and it just goes to show you, if there's a good racecar driver
out there, it won't take him long to adapt."

Looking ahead to today's test, in addition to the unique challenges of the Talladega circuit where
`Cup' cars reach top speeds of 215mph, and average lap speeds near 190 mph this will be
Villeneuve's first time on-track alongside the entire line-up of premier NEXTEL Cup drivers.
Understandably, this is recognised to be a key step in his NASCAR program. When asked for his own
expectations before flying to the track from his Montreal home, the pragmatic former World
Champion stated, "In one way, it's a very big day, but alongside that, it's just another important
test. Either way, I've got to focus on getting the best out of me, the car, and the team. The speeds
are high, which I'm used to, but the scale of the track is something very different. I'm really enjoying
the whole NASCAR experience, and I'm looking forward to this."